Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ to help Palestinian Authority in polls to choose Arafat's successor
9 December 2004 – Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ electoral personnel are to open two offices in the occupied Palestinian territories to help organize next month's presidential elections for a successor to Yasser Arafat, who died in November, it was announced today.
The world body has been asked by the Palestinian Authority to coordinate the hundreds of international observers who are expected to participate in the process, and it will open offices in Ramallah and Gaza to certify and accredit organizations that want to observe the elections, spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
The Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ will draft a code of conduct for these organizations, which will issue their own separate statements based on their observation. Since the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ is heavily involved in the organization of the presidential ballot, it will not be acting as an observer.
The senior international advisor to the Palestinian Central Electoral Commission is Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ electoral expert Pascal Soto, who has worked in various capacities in the electoral field for over a decade. Among those countries he has assisted – both through the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ and with other organizations – are South Africa, Mexico, Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liberia, Western Sahara, East Timor, Haiti, Yemen, Peru, the Solomon Islands, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger and Mali.
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Document Type: French text, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ news item
Document Sources: United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), United Nations News Service
Subject: Assistance, Electoral issues, Governance, Statehood-related
Publication Date: 09/12/2004